Friday, May 2, 2014

Social Media Insights

Although there has been quite a lot going on in our writing, and marketing world, I have been taking extra time to research what works best in social media these days.For those of you that are writers I have found a wonderful, and insightful site that you might find helpful. It's called Book Marketing Tools and I found them through Google+, well, actually, they found me.These guys post videos every two weeks with authors and social media guru's who answer questions about what works for them. I love the videos and the host - Shawn Manaher seems like a really nice person. These clips are full of wonderful tips and from what I've heard the most from the guests on these videos is emails, and leading people to your website, works the best to gain followers.There are a couple of the authors that speak of Facebook but I haven't found FB as good as some of the other sites I've been on. Yes, they talk about becoming interactive with your fans but Facebook is doing an injustice by only posting to a few of the people on your fanpage list at a time. I find that disheartening. I believe at one time Facebook was a great place to get the word out about your books and any announcements, but not so much any more.I tend to agree with the concept of becoming interactive with your fan base and hopefully grow your list. Although setting up a website can be expensive, it is a great way to grow your fan base and get people talking about your book(s). We are looking forward to getting the site up and having an interactive blog, not to mention, a great newsletter/announcement/interactive page to send out to our fans.Another site that I believe is becoming more popular is Goodreads. You can do a lot with your author page and join groups. I have traded books with two other author's and we leave each other reviews, which is vitally important in the writing world. The more reviews you have, that are positive, the better your standing is within the Amazon community and the reader's choices.

Taking the time to research what is the best way in today's highly competitive world of books, is majorly important. If you know of any other marketing that works great, please drop me a line and fill me in. I am more that willing to look into it and see if it's a good way to get your books out there.

One more way to get yourself out there is to do book signings and sell your books at conferences. For example, we will be at Starfest this weekend on author's row. We also signed up for and was picked for a book sales and signing at Englewood public library last weekend. We have also had book launches that have been extremely successful.One more way, is to approach professional reviewers. Our recent interview and review on Bittenbybooks really helped to get us out there in the author world. We also are waiting for two more reviews and we have been on the radio and will be doing another radio interview in June. Our review hereGetting your book out there to as many people as you can is the most important way to become known. If readers enjoy your book they will pass it along to others to enjoy. Selling books is a "by mouth" business so the more your out there, the better your sales and popularity will become.Until next week, I hope all of you have a fantastic weekend. We will post pictures and give you the insight next week about our time at Starfest.